Chapter 4: Four Suns
Greeting #Dragonball fans and welcome to part 4 of What If: Raditz Recognized Piccolo, where Raditz knew a bit too much about the Namekians for his own liking and Vegeta and Nappa overheard him talking about it.
Raditz's Playlist: playlist?list=PLsT84D-KG6NgOeBSIBdyrpIhZjO67jbuH
Merged Playlist: playlist?list=PLsT84D-KG6NizpzJ6QX6qWsHyuWh-RcIp
Piccolo's Playlist: playlist?list=PLsT84D-KG6Nin9n_qcBAI8HeDmMTB8tL5
#DragonballZ #WhatIf #Raditz #ScratchyAudio
Previously Raditz has been to Earth, met his brother and almost paid the ultimate price after being abandoned by his boss, Prince Vegeta. After another Namekian, Kami, slipped away with his hopes at Earth's Dragon Balls and the ship, he went along with that Bulma woman to see if she can provide an out for him. If not a ship then at least a working scouter that he could use to track that slippery Guardian guy down with.
Instead he got to meet Mr Popo and was then taken with Bulma to Yunzabit Heights so see the piece of junk they called a spaceship. Keeping his reasons to himself, he tagged along with Bulma as she took the ship to Capsule Corp, a strange, deceptively small facility, where they set about fixing up their prize.
After realizing that the oppressive Lord Frieza will likely be on his way to Namek too, Raditz managed to convince them to speed up their departure, ahead of his brother and pal's return. If they can get to Namek, they can not only get at their Dragon Balls, but once Raditz is immortal, he can keep not just Vegeta but also Frieza himself from getting any wishes in too. It just wouldn't do to have the whole bunch of them, all immortal and milling around the universe, now would it? No, this was going to be his prize and his alone.
The trip itself does not go off without a hitch however. While the woman and her father had fixed the ship, they'd also added that same down right creepy compression tech as their headquarters, to that ship. And Raditz's experiences with the gravity generator in his upper deck, does not go that well. Having reached its original max, some 20 Earth Gs, without too much effort, he'd asked Bulma to upgrade it for him. And, oh boy did she.
She upgraded it so hard he was left drooling on the deck for some 4 days before she'd finally given up trying to call him over the intercom one morning and gone to check. After cutting power to his entire deck, she'd had to drag his crumpled body to the hatch and man, or woman-handle him down the ladder to do what she could to treat him before learning that, rather hilariously, he can't read. At least not her language.
After slowly acclimating to higher and higher Gs, all while studying Earth's native language, they ready themselves for what adventures await below the thick, rolling clouds of Namek.
Twin Deceivers
As they descend through those clouds the ship is battered and shaken, to the point where Bulma is thrown around in the pilot seat and knocked out. Raditz just floats there in the middle of the deck and starts to roll his eyes at how feeble she is, before remembering how he still needs her. And, well, he almost likes her. Good teacher if nothing else.
This time it's Bulma's turn to open her eyes and look up to see Raditz staring down at her, but there is no trace of liquid in his eyes as when the roll was reversed those few weeks ago after the now unmentionable drool soaked hair incident.
Outside, they spot two very suave looking Namekians and not bothering to dawn his smashed armour, much to Bulma's nose's delight, they go about welcoming the two inside and then warning them about Vegeta and Nappa and Frieza. The Namekians say they're very grateful and will surely keep an eye, wait, did they say Frieza? Say, this is a nice ship you've got here. Since there's only the 2 Namekians on the planet, how's about they just give them a lift and that way they'll be safe! Gotta wait for the solar winds to change so the storm clears up, but that shouldn't take too long.
"How long?" Raditz asks while watching Bulma fumble around in her bag.
"A couple of days, tops." The one with a cigar says.
Raditz leans back and sighs. Of course, more delays, why not? Then he notices Bulma's confused expression. She's hunched over a small round tablet thing and is clicking it repeatedly, her eyebrows scrunching up more with each press.
"What's wrong?" He asks.
"There are no Dragon Balls." She says.
"What?" Raditz jumps up. "How do you know that?"
"On the radar, silly!" She says smiling a bit proudly and pointing down at the round tablet.
"But they're Namekians, aren't they?" Raditz asks and notices that the two green men are glancing back and forth, awkwardly. "Don't they have them on them or something?"
Bulma stares at him for a second then says that no, the balls scatter when you use them, then you have to wait a year for them to re-activate before they show up on the radar again. When Bulma asks how recently they used their Dragon Balls, the two Namekians stammer and glance at each other even more awkwardly.
"You know, Dragon Balls, Namekians make them apparently. They grant…" Bulma trails off as she sees their expressions, and the beads of sweat forming. "Why do you want to leave your planet?" Bulma asks.
"Well, it's not very nice, is it." says Zaacro as he points out at the raging storm outside. "And if Frieza is going to Namek."
"Why didn't you just ask for nicer weather then?" Bulma interrupts them, her eyebrow reaching what Raditz has determined means maximum suspicion.
Zaacro and Raiti glance at each other again and start to sweat even more.
"We just want your ship ok?" Raiti says getting up. "If Frieza is going to Namek, we gotta get out of the sector!"
He starts moving toward Bulma, but Raditz is instantly in their way.
"Sorry, she's got other plans." Raditz says, looking them both up and down and then smiles. "Isn't this Namek" He says, pointing down.
The pair of Namekians sigh and they are no longer Namekians. Raditz's smile turns to a frown, then back to a more feral kind of smile.
"I know your species." He says. "You're Saikidobos. Thieves, who can read minds!"
"Damn it! Why weren't you thinking about those Dragon Ball things when you were knocked unconscious?" Zaacro says to Bulma.
"We're not here for them." Bulma says, poking out from behind Raditz. "We came to warn you, you ungrateful… whatever you are!"
"We're on the wrong planet!" Raditz sighs. "Of course we are."
"Well, while you're here," the two very much non-Namekians say, as they circle their prey.
Unfortunately things do not go that well for them as Raditz easily stops them both in their tracks, by launching one into the other and thus both of them into a wall with enough force to make the ship tip slightly.
"Be Careful!" Bulma shouts as she clutches at the couch. "You'll break the ship!"
"Oh, sorry." Raditz says, looking at the massive dent in the wall panelling. "Best take this outside, boys."
But the pair of Saikidobos just lay there in a heap, unmoving, except for the slight trickle of blood dripping from their mouths, and ears, and, oh, that arm looks painful.
"Huh." Raditz says, poking one of them in an unbroken appendage. "I think they're dead."
That species is supposed to be pretty strong, aren't they? They're usually at least at his previous power level or higher. Huh. Smiling to himself, Raditz drags them to the lift and then once that's down, he kicks them both gently and sends them flying off into the raging storm outside.
Back in the ship they both step over the bloody drag marks and go to look at the control console only to see that the location data has changed. They're still a whole light year from Namek! How'd that happen? Oh, right. Telepathic thieves. Probably made them think they were there.
They wait out the storm for a while and after Raditz comes back from dealing with the 3rd massive tentacle monster that wants to either eat or mate with their ship, when the clouds start to clear, they blast off and resume their journey.
Three Suns
As they approach actual Namek, Raditz looks over at the Dragon Radar that's just sitting there on the table and frowns, thinking how to work this without pissing off his ride out of here. When they've settled to the ground, Bulma picks up her travel pack and they descend on the lift. Once it's re-sealed, she walks over to a leg strutt and taps a discoloured section.
Christ that tech gives him the creeps. The entire ship is now just a capsule now. Sure it's slightly bigger than the usual capsule, but there she is just dropping an entire spaceship in her pocket. Just like that, a whole ship! The Frieza force would kill for that kind of tech. Well that's a low bar as far as things the Frieza Force has been known to kill for. Imagine being able to send an entire garrison in something the size of a single attack pod. Wait. There were other capsules in the ship, weren't there? That's capsules stored in capsules. It's capsules all the way down?
Raditz shakes his mind free from those planet sized implications and he stares again at this seemingly puny Earth woman. Her tech is absolutely terrifying, and she's just smiling back at him awkwardly. Oh, he's making that face again isn't he? The awe-struck slash terrified appreciation face, she called it.
When she pulls the Dragon Radar out and does a few clicks, Raditz finally sees their first blip.
"Say, Bulma." He says, tripping over his previous thoughts.
"Yeah?"
"The Dragon Balls scatter, you said."
"Yeah?"
"So," He pauses, unsure how to ask this without giving away too much. "Back on Earth, we could just have gone to get them, with that?"
"Well, yeah." She says smiling that other smile. The "you're an idiot" one.
"So, then, I coulda..." He pauses and looks away.
"No, you couldn't." She says, laughing slightly.
He looks back at her and she's got a new smile on. He's not overly familiar with that one.
"Popo said that Kami wanted no wishes, no mentioning the Dragon Balls." Bulma says. "He knew you wanted them for yourself."
Raditz just stares at her. She'd known? This whole time? The hell?
"Look Raditz, you seem nice enough while you're not threatening to blow up the planet, but we can't, we, we just didn't trust you, OK?"
"Oh." Is all he can manage.
"Hey, don't be mad." She says, smiling again. "We're here, we can warn the actual Namekians and maybe stick it to that Fridge guy and your old boss." Then after a pause, "He is your OLD boss right?"
"Yeah, I guess." Raditz shrugs. "It just would have been a lot easier if I was already immortal, you know? That way I don't have to worry about the painful parts or the death parts."
"Speaking of which, do you sense anything?" She asks, looking around at the utterly bland horizon.
"Sense anything? What do you mean?" Raditz asks, looking around where she is.
"You know, sense any energies? Oh." She looks at him with half of that "you're an idiot" smile again. "You can't sense energy like your brother and all of them back on Earth, or wherever they are now."
He stares at her, connecting Piccolo and then Goku's strange ability to track him with what she's just said. She, in turn, digs into her pack and pulls out the scouter and tosses it at him. He turns it over in his hand and then says they can't risk it. As soon as he turns it on, it will connect to the Frieza Force network and everything they scan or say will be broadcast for all to hear. Bulma just puts her hands on her hips and cocks her head, now definitely smiling that "you're an idiot" smile again.
"Oh please, I'm not stupid." She says, pulling out a small hand terminal thing. "I pulled out that clunky comm for a smaller one only we can use. Also upgraded the energy capacitors after you blew them out the 5th time on the trip here."
Raditz just stares at her then down at the scouter. He blew out the capacitors? Five times? Just how strong is he now? He holds out the scouter and asks her to check his numbers. When she says just over 120,000 he laughs, not believing her for a second.
"No way I'm as strong as Captain Ginyu."
"Who?" Bulma asks. "Is he stronger than Frieza?
It's Raditz's turn to roll around laughing, until he remembers that if his power level is 120,000 then if Frieza is here, they're already on their way and, well, they're screwed. When he explains to Bulma why he's got his terrified awe look on his face again, Bulma says to hush. She checked his power level after those fake Namekians and it was down to only 13,000 something.
"It only spikes up when you're thumping around under high gravity." She says, then after staring at him for a moment, "What?"
"13,000?" He says, staring at his hands. That certainly explained the Saikidobos' fate.
Well, he does have to really try when working out upstairs, doesn't he? So, it worked. That weighted clothing thing actually works! He's about to pull on that thread he needs to, to move under 100Gs, or 10, depending on your point of reference, when he remembers, again, that if anyone in the Frieza Force picks him up, that would be bad.
"Well then," he says, breathing slowly and trying to relax that thread as much as possible. "What's my power level now?"
Bulma takes the scouter and after a moment to install and activate it, says "9,000."
"9,000" He breathes. "I'm so relaxed I could fall asleep and I'm still half as strong as Vegeta?"
Maybe she wasn't lying about 120,000. That's still not in Frieza's league by a long shot but still, it's more power than he'd ever dreamed of having. 20,000 would have suited him fine. To finally be able to full one over on that smug little Prince.
"See," Bulma says, "You're just like your brother."
"How so?" He asks her, genuinely interested.
"You pushed yourself and trained, just like him." She smiles a different kind of smile he'd only seen once before. "And you got stronger for it, just like our Goku."
Their slightly awkward smiling is interrupted by the Scouter, that's still affixed to Bulma's head when it chirps, activating on its own. She yelps in surprise then looks in the direction indicated by the thing and says that someone's coming. 4 someones in fact.
"How strong are they?" Raditz asks, staring in that same direction, unable to see anything yet.
"1,400, 1,500, 1,900 and 2,100" Bulma says. "Nothing too big?"
"Hmm, If they're Frieza force," Raditz says and looks down at the armour he'd finally put back on.
Bulma's cheeks go bright red and she turns away as he pulls the armour off, then he asks her if she'd got a storage capsule he can hide it in. No use parading around in Saiyan body armour, as if they too were in the Frieza Force.
"The Frieza Force uses Saiyan body armour?" Bulma asks while digging for a crate capsule, carefully facing away from him.
"Best armour money can buy." Raditz says proudly, then remembering his apparent number now. "Well, probably not when you're in the 100,000s."
His armour hidden, and his usual tank top and sweatpants on, they start to walk towards the approaching powers for a while until the 4 figures become visible. Yup, they're Frieza Force all right. Typical low level goons, Raditz thinks to himself. Oh man, he was a low level goon up until a month ago. How weird is that?
When the 4 figures drop down in front of them, they aim their blasters and demand these clearly not Namekians surrender themselves and give up any Dragon Balls.
"No Dragon Balls here." Raditz says, cracking his knuckles and wondering if he can do this without accidentally pulling on that thread he was so used to clinging to to stay in the fight next to Vegeta and Nappa.
End Chapter 4
And with the 4 Frieza Force minions blasted away in short order and Bulma just a bit flustered by Raditz picking her up, they fly off towards the nearest cluster of truly low level powers and we will bring past 4 to a close.
Now presumably on Namek proper, it looks like the Frieza Force has indeed got there first.
Will Raditz and Bulma be able to make contact with the natives before getting caught out?
When are his brother and friends going to weigh in on things?
Will it even matter if they do?
Find out next time on Dragonball, What If: Raditz Recognized Piccolo.